Unit 5 – Oral Communication Assignment

Earlier this semester, you drafted a persuasive email that dealt with an issue at your workplace you wanted to see addressed.  Later, after approval of the course of action that you recommended, you worked on a formal proposal supported by research.

For this assignment, you will pitch your proposal to an audience of top level division makers.

Task:  

The presentation may not exceed 5 minutes.  

Imagine that you met with the regional manager, and he opened the meeting with the following: “So, I got your email, and I think your idea has merit, but I can’t approve the funding at my level.  Give me the 5-minute pitch/executive summary version of your email on why we should spend dollars on this program, that I can take to corporate.”

For this you will prepare a 5-minute presentation that the regional manager can use to pitch your idea to the national office.  Your job is to address that request clearly, logically, and persuasively.  

Learning Goals:

· To apply best practices for delivering an executive presentation from the videos and readings

· To effectively synthesize information, demonstrating the ability to be concise yet thorough

· To deliver an audience-oriented presentation that strategically prioritizes information, appealing to the audience’s bottom line

· To organize a presentation in a way that is visually and aurally appealing, while also logically and coherently organized

· To demonstrate an ability to manage time and successfully complete the presentation.

Tone & Style:  

Persuasive, professional, informative, straight-forward, logical, concise, and clear.

Length: 3 (minimum) to 5 minutes (max.) – additional time will be penalized

Audience:  

Your audience is the top level owner(s)/executive(s) of the company and the committee that the manager assembled to consider your idea.  Among them are representatives from HR, PR, and various department heads.

The context is a professional meeting but it is not too formal. Please do not use overly wordy or inflated language.

Evaluation:  

Your presentation will be evaluated based on the criteria described above in the Learning Goals.

Medium:  You can use either video (such as YouTube) or a presentation method that allows you to include your recorded voice (such as PowerPoint or Prezi), or a combination of both.

Supplemental Resources:

Website Readings:

How to write a compelling executive summary: https://www.garage.com/resources/writing-a-compelling-executive-summary/

A list of the best free online presentation software tools: https://business.tutsplus.com/articles/online-free-presentation-software–cms-30002

12 proven strategies to make your presentations more captivating: https://www.inc.com/ben-parr/12-proven-strategies-to-make-your-presentations-more-captivating.html

Youtube Videos:

Three “A’s” to Amazing Business Presentations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbfB5cbCQRI

How to open and close presentations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_FJAOcFgQ